'I will resign if necessary': Kejriwal stands firm on Lokpal

In the face of serious legal, political and procedural challenges to his pet project, the Jan Lokpal Bill, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal insisted on Saturday that he would go to any length to get the legislation passed.

"Corruption is an extremely important issue and I will go to any extent," Kejriwal told PTI, adding that he would even resign if matters came to a head.

Though the Congress and the BJP are set to oppose the bill's passage in the Delhi Assembly without getting it cleared by the Centre, Kejriwal said this was just a matter of politicians attempting to protect themselves.

Dispute: Arvind Kejriwal (left) has taken on L-G Najeeb Jung (right) for seeking the Solicitor General's opinion on his government's decision to present the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly without the Centre's assent

"They (Congress) realise that if there is a strong Lokpal, then many of them will get into trouble. For seven years, the BJP has been in power in MCD and they may also get into trouble.

"If the Bill is passed, then all the CWG cases will go to Lokpal," he said.

Despite Kejriwal's remarks, the face-off between the AAP-led Delhi government and Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung over the bill is yet to be resolved.

The Delhi government on Saturday admitted that the legal experts, consulted by Kejriwal, had only given their opinions on procedural matters and not the Bill itself.

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"Nowhere in his letter to (L-G) did the CM state that the government had sought the experts' opinion on Jan Lokpal Bill.

"The entire reference was to the Transaction of Business Rules (TBR) for the Delhi Assembly, 1993, prepared by the Union Home Ministry and sent to the Delhi government with the direction to implement them," it said in a statement.

The experts consulted by Kejriwal suggested that the Home Ministry's rules requiring bills to be submitted to the Centre first is unconstitutional - but it remains an extant law unless it is struck down by either the Home Ministry itself, or the Supreme Court.

"The Delhi government had sought the opinion on whether Rule 55 (1) of the TBR, which makes it mandatory for the Delhi government to send any bill to the Centre before its introduction in the Assembly, is constitutional," the statement says.